Clark Green City receives P5 billion investment

Last week, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) announced their P5 billion investment in Clark Green City, an upcoming development in Central Luzon.

Located, jointly, in Pampanga and Tarlac, nestled within the northern sector of the Sacobia reservation, and spanning 35,000 hectares, Clark Green City is envisioned to be a modern “eco city” that is “environmentally sustainable, socially inclusive, economically competitive, culturally relevant, and technologically integrated.”

BCDA President and CEO Arnel Paciano Casanova issued that the P5 billion, an incremental figure, would see to basic infrastructure and utilities. The sum was drawn from BCDA’s funds.

“We will provide the basics to make the site accessible to investors who then would do the rest. I expect the private sector to spend about P59 billion to put up needed infrastructure in the rest of the Clark Green City,” Casanova stated in an interview with the Philippine Star.

A state-owned firm, the BCDA redevelops former military bases into business and commercial centers in partnership with the private sector.

Casanova stated, however, that Clark Green City won’t be receiving any funding from the state. “We do not get funds from the government. We remit funds to the government,” he said, citing that infrastructure projects are poised to be bid out to contractors by the third quarter.

Scheduled to be launched in 2015, Phase 1 of the city spans some 1,300 hectares. Its master development plan segregates the area into five districts, namely for government, business, academic, agri-forestry research and development, and wellness and eco-tourism.

Once completed, Clark Green City is projected to create up to 925,000 jobs, generating P1.57 trillion per year to the economy, according to Casanova.